


What a tangled web we weave

by bitseaa



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Azure Moon but the Golden Deer come to the monastery as well, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Blue Lions Route, M/M, Mutual Pining, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:56:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25897798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bitseaa/pseuds/bitseaa
Summary: Sylvain José Gautier was wholly, truly, and thoroughly fucked.Sure, tactically speaking it was great to have the support of the alliance, and personally it was great to see his former classmates from the Golden Deer house.And yet-“Gautier!”Claude von Reigan. Therein laid Sylvain’s problem with this whole arrangement.
Relationships: Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier, Hilda Valentine Goneril/Claude von Riegan, Sylvain Jose Gautier & Claude von Riegan
Comments: 3
Kudos: 33





	1. Reunions

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Just a little bit more about this AU, basically everything is the same, Blue Lions route wise, except Claude and the Golden Deer join the army after Chapter 19.
> 
> Also, the fic will be flashing between pre and post timeskip post come chapter 2, hopefully it’s not too confusing!

Sylvain José Gautier was wholly, truly, and thoroughly  fucked.

Sure, tactically speaking it was great to have the support of the alliance, and personally it was great to see his former classmates from the Golden Deer house. 

And yet-

“Gautier!”

Claude von Reigan. Therein laid Sylvain’s problem with this whole arrangement. He didn’t dislike  _ Claude _ per se, the two of them were actually rather good friends. No, he just disliked the man’s perceptiveness and penchant to meddle.

Sylvain turned at the heavy clap on his shoulder and was met with a charming voice. “Long time no see, eh?” The redhead smiled in response.

“Claude! Welcome back to the monastery. I didn’t think you were arriving so soon.” 

The greeting fell from his lips easily enough, but Sylvain couldn’t keep the tense set from his shoulders. The other man seemed to take no heed though. 

“Ah well, Hilda and I flew ahead with a few men. We were excited to see you all. You especially it seems, she kept on bring you up.” 

_Shit_.  Sylvain knew there was nothing going on there, but Claude clearly didn’t know that, and this was a surefire way to gain the alliance’s leader’s annoyance. Sylvain knew from experience what that entailed. 

He rolled his eyes.

“Believe me, Hilda‘s just been gossiping with me in your stead. I thought we resolved this, er- what was it?” he made a show of counting it off on his fingers, “ _half a decade ago._ ”

Claude just raised an eyebrow. 

“You know I thought so too, and yet,” he lifted a hand to point at something over Sylvain’s shoulder, “seems like you haven’t quite sorted out your own end of the problem yet either.”

Upon turning around, Sylvain was graced with the sight of a  _very angry_ blue blur stomping towards him. The world shook for a moment as a hand flashed up to yank at his collar. 

“ _Sylvain_!  Where the fuck have you been? You said you would start taking this seriously!” A beat passed after one Felix Hugo Fraldarius all but shouted the words, leaving their eyes locked, and honestly, Sylvain would answer but having the man this close was really distracting to say the- 

“Fraldarius! Nice to see you too!” cut in the alliance leader, and Sylvain sent off a quick prayer to the goddess for the save. This staring thing had been happening more frequently as of late, and quite frankly he was going to lose his mind if it didn’t stop. 

The Fraldarius in question, in a show of impressive restraint, merely leveled Claude with a glare that would have weaker men trembling where they stood and turned back to the poor,  innocent ginger he was currently manhandling. “Well?” he seethed, prompting Sylvain to grab Felix’s wrists and remove them from where they were, very distractingly he might add, brushing against his neck. He held on for a moment.

“...Er, you’re gonna have to catch me up, Fe, not quite sure what you’re talking about.” He felt Felix tense in his grasp as his eyes snapped to Claude where he watched on amusedly. 

“Don’t..! Don’t!!” he let out a strangled noise that Sylvain could only describe as cute, “don’t call me that in front of  _him_!  And- don’t act coy with me, I know you’re not as stupid as you pretend!” He pulled his hands away to point threateningly at Sylvain’s chest. The redhead merely brought his palms up in hopes of placating his friend.

“Honest, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Trust me, I wouldn’t purposely try to piss you off.” At the twin disbelieving looks he received he added, “Okay, not this much at least. Contrary to popular belief I  _ do _ want you to be happy.”

Felix’s head whipped to the side at that, but Sylvain still thought he caught a glimpse of a blush on the man’s cheeks and  _ wow  _ did that look good and  _ okay let’s not go there right now.  _

“Well,” Felix snapped, “a good way not to piss me off is to actually fucking show up to training on time.” And there came the hands crossing against his chest, clueing Sylvain in that he had a very short window of time before he’d be treated to the cold shoulder and pointed glares from across the room for the rest of the day. He flashed an apologetic look at Claude before proceeding.yes 

“Oh goddess I didn’t even realize the time, I’m sorry Fe, I’m an idiot. The professor asked me to check if any news on the Alliance forces had come and as it turns out, Claude here arrived early so I was talking to him and I swear I didn’t skip out on purpose, I wouldn’t do that to yo-“ A sharp sigh put an end to his rambling. 

Sylvain settled his eyes on Felix once more, drinking in the slightly fond expression that quickly flattened into cool neutrality once the other noticed his gaze.As he spoke again, Felix’s voice was noticeably gentler, seemingly calmed by his explanation. 

“Hmph. Should’ve known an oaf like you can’t even take care of his own damn schedule,” he snatched Sylvain’s wrist and gave a light tug, “Let’s get to it then, we’ll have to make up for time lost to your idiocy.” 

Sylvain turned to glance at Claude, who now had his arms crossed and a contemplative smirk on his face. He found he decidedly did  _ not _ like whatever that implied just as the other man spoke up.

“Well, I suppose we’ll chat later then,” he offered, “perhaps over a meal and a game of chess. Are you free for dinner tonight, Gautier?” Felix’s fingers tightened around Sylvain’s forearm.

“Sylvain and I are having dinner tonight.” Sylvain grimaced because they  _ were  _ but he really needed to get this whole Hilda misconception cleared up with Claude, seeing as the last thing he needed was to be on the receiving end of another one of the man’s schemes for trying to steal his “best friend” even though she was clearly more than that and _they had_ _ talked about this before.  _

“ Er, yeah we are, sorry. But afterwards maybe?” he tried, already lamenting the loss of the companionable time he and Felix shared most evenings, but Claude knew way too much for his comfort, and if he didn’t fix this he couldn’t guarantee Felix wouldn’t find out about things that he had tirelessly worked to hide for years. 

Beside him Felix seemed a bit miffed, and he lamented that too because, yeah, Felix’s pout was adorable but it did not bode well for the state Sylvain would be leaving the training grounds in. Claude simply looked on with a knowing grin.

“Works for me. Sorry to cut your date short,” he responded, prompting a huff and a glare from Felix, who started determinedly in the direction of the training ground, dragging Sylvain with him. The taller merely raised a hand in farewell to the brunette and followed the man, hoping his face didn’t betray how unabashedly fond he felt.

•••   
  


Sylvain watched as Felix methodically cut into his steak.

“So what was that whole exchange with Claude about?” asked Felix, gesturing with his knife and causing Sylvain to wince because  _ Fe that’s really not safe.  _

“Oh nothing really, we were just chatting about Hilda. Didn’t have time to talk about much else before you got there.”

“Hmph.” Sylvain chuckled lightly at the put off noise. “You see that man for the first time in five years and your first reaction is talk about that good for nothing woman? Typical.” 

Sylvain outright laughed at that, earning a confused frown from Felix. “What.”

“Nothing, nothing,” he said behind his hand, trying to stifle his laughter. “You just-“ he snorted, “Hilda and I were talking about you the other day and she used that exact phrase.” 

The younger narrowed his eyes. “What phrase? And why were you talking about me?” 

The redhead felt his lips twitch as he finally reined in his laughter. “‘Good for nothing woman’. And don’t worry, Fe, nothing bad.” Felix only glared harder at the nickname, which,  _ whoops _ . 

“At least she knows it.”

“Oh come on,” he groaned “Hilda’s actually competent if you can get her to work.”

Felix scoffed. “Uh huh. See, this just sounds to me like a fool defending another fool.”

“ Feeeelix ,” Sylvain did not whine, _he_ _ did not.  _

Comfortable silence descended over the table as Felix gave a soft snort. Sylvain picked idly at his food and tried, key word here being  _ tried _ , not to stare at Felix’s mouth because he was only a man _but_ _ let’s try not to waste five years of secrecy.  _

He soon found himself jolting out of his reverie as Felix set his fork down with a  _ clink _ . His head slipped from its prop atop his chin and—

Wait, was Felix laughing? 

Sylvain tried not to melt on the spot as Felix saw himself through a soft, breathy laughing fit, but he couldn’t help the small smile that pulled at the corners of his mouth.

_ Cute _ . His mind repeated the word like a mantra.  _Cute, cute, cute, cute, cute, cute, cute, cute_.

Felix cleared his throat as if expecting a response and  _ cute _ quickly changed to  _ fuck _ . After a moment the other clicked his tongue. 

“Whoops, sorry ‘bout that, zoned out for a second,” Sylvain said weakly, reaching behind his neck in a familiar gesture, “Did you say something?” Another scoff at that. 

“I said you were a dolt,” he grumbled, though Felix would vehemently deny the fact that he was grumbling. “You may as well have just gone and blathered with Reigan if you care so little to listen to me.” 

Sylvain pouted. “Cut me some slack, you did just beat me nine ways into tomorrow. I think it’s understandable that I’m a little dazed, yeah?” 

Felix hid the beginnings of a smile behind the press of his napkin as he answered. “Not my fault you’re weak.” 

Crossing his arms, Sylvain leaned back in his chair. “Hey now, I’m not weak, you’re just ruthless.” He was met with a shrug.

“Your enemies will be the same.” 

Sylvain rubbed his chin in mock thought. “I wonder if  they’ll take me to dinner too.”

Felix’s pout was almost worth the swift kick to the shin he received.  _Almost_.  What could he say? The man had a solid kick.

The clatter of Felix’s chair as he stood could barely be heard over the din of the tavern, and Sylvain stayed seated as his friend looked down on him. 

“Well. This was... nice, thank you.” he said, avoiding eye contact in the way he had since they were kids. Sylvain raised both eyebrows, regardless of the lack of Felix’s attention on him. 

“Is that genuine gratitude? Am I dreaming?” and  _ that  _ had Felix looking over, face contorting in a way that had Sylvain backpedaling almost immediately. “Kidding! I’m kidding. I had a nice time too.”

With a  _ hmph _ , Felix was on his way, leaving Sylvain scrambling to leave payment on the table and catch up, bumping into at least one other person in his rush. As it turned out, the rush was unnecessary. Upon exiting the tavern—maybe stumbling was a better term, he’d had a bit to drink—Sylvain met gazes with Felix, arms folded and leaning against the wall, presumably to wait for him. The man kicked off silently and started walking toward the monastery gates. 

“You’d better not be late tomorrow,” Felix muttered after they had walked for a while in silence. Sylvain glanced over at him.

“Hmm?” 

“Late. To training.” Sylvain couldn’t tell if the flush painting his cheeks was from alcohol or something else. His bets were on the former, Felix was a notorious lightweight. 

“I won’t be. I told you I’d get my act together and I’m not going back on that. I know you take your promises seriously,” he assured. 

Felix turned to face him and the two locked eyes. They stayed like that for a minute before Felix moved to stare at the ground with a harsh inhale.

“Good... good. It’s just,” At this point Sylvain was surprised Felix’s boots weren’t melting under the force of his stare, “...The battlefield’s a chaotic place.” 

Sylvain let that sit between them for a beat, knowing what Felix meant.  _ The battlefield’s chaotic  _ was really  _I want you to be safe_.  Felix hid his feelings under a veil of impatience and gruffness, but after a lifetime, Sylvain knew how to dig to the heart of the matter. He let his hand brush against the smaller man’s as they passed through the gate, nodding to the gatekeeper.

“I know,” he said in lieu an actual answer, but much the same he knew that Felix knew what he meant.

_I won’t break our promise._

•••

Claude’s smirk had somehow grown  _ more  _ irritating and self assured in the past five years. The man’s eyes sparkled with mirth as he took another of Sylvain’s pawns with his rook. 

“So I take it you and Fraldarius aren’t a thing yet.”

_Yet_.  As if Sylvain had a chance. Felix had made his views on romance abundantly clear. 

Sylvain paused, fiddling with his knight in the air before placing it gently on the marble board. 

“Hmm. Seems you and Hilda aren’t much better,” he breathed at last.

Conversations with Claude were honestly not unlike the very game they were playing. Nudge forward only to lose some ground. Take a risk that could pay off or entirely cripple your defense. 

“No thanks to you. I thought we agreed to leave the other’s interest alone,” Claude said, taking his move. Sylvain snorted.

“I promise you there is absolutely nothing romantic between Hilda and I. We just like talking shit, we’ve gone over this ‘Mr. Leader Man’.” 

Claude met his eyes with a wink. “You’re right, she’s too good for you.”

_True_ ,  but Sylvain let out a hearty laugh regardless. “Exactly, I really don’t pose a threat. Besides, I think you’ve got that one in the bag.”

Claude hummed and studied Sylvain’s expression while the man himself pondered his next move. “Oh? does she talk about me?” 

Sylvain gasped in mock offense and brought a hand to his heart. “You really think I’d betray our gossip gang solidarity by telling you? Just ask, I’m sure she’d be happy to tell you.”

He slid his queen forward and allowed a grin to creep onto his face. “Checkmate, by the way.” 

Claude blinked and looked down with a laugh. “My, my, it’s easy to forget how crafty you can be. Good game Gautier!” He stuck his hand out, and Sylvain took it in a firm shake. 

The alliance leader sat back in his chair, not bothering to reset the pieces. 

“So Sylvain, ready for round two?” he asked, not at all meaning the game. 

Sylvain sighed. “Yeah, because ‘round one’ went so well”

“My friend, a little good old fashioned scheming never hurt anyone.” 

Sylvain did his best to imitate Ingrid’s disapproving leer. “You know, I seem to remember it a little differently.” Claude laughed.

“It’ll go better this time! promise!” 

So yeah. Sylvain was fucked. 


	2. Beginnings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, please disregard any random spaces you see, they just keep popping up and it won’t let me fix them. 
> 
> Just a heads up, this chapter takes place pre-timeskip!

Sylvain drummed his fingers against the library table, waiting for the golden deer house leader to show up for their weekly chess match.  _So much for punctuality._

He frowned as he looked at the mess other students had left on the tables, standing to straighten things up. If he left it, he’d probably be bothered by it for the length of the game.

Claude made his entrance about fifteen minutes later, just as Sylvain felt his patience start to wane. The man simply laughed at his raised eyebrow.

“Sorry about the wait, bud, had some stuff to deal with.” 

Sylvain reclined in the seat across from the white pieces on the chessboard, masking his annoyance with a smug smile. 

“Stuff?”

Claude sat across from him, fixing him with an inscrutable look. “Mhm. Taking white are we? Thought it was my turn to start this week.”

Sylvain shrugged, all self assurance as he moved his pawn two spaces forward. “You made me wait. So... did ‘stuff’ happen to involve Hilda?”

Satisfaction washed over Sylvain as his friend’s eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. “Not quite sure what you’re implying there, but if you must know, yes” He took his took his turn and the redhead watched, calculating. 

“Oh nothing,” he replied, eyes on the board. Claude’s gaze was tracking him. “You just seem rather fond of her. I know the signs of attraction when i see it.” 

_Bingo_. There it was. Claude’s fingers clenched around the piece he was holding. 

“Well well, Gautier, that’s rich all things considered.” Now it was Sylvain’s turn to be caught off guard. 

_ What? _

“What?” he asked, fingers twitching.

“You know,” Claude continued, despite the fact that he did not know at all. Sylvain followed the gesture of his hand to—

Wait was that _Felix_ in the  library ?

Sure enough, the navy haired teen was smiling—yes  _smiling_ — down at Annette as the girl waved a book in the air. He resolutely decided to ignore the curl of envy in his gut.

“And that’s supposed to mean what?” he questioned, grasping at composure. Letting his mask slip in front of Claude would prove to be dangerous, the man was too conniving for his own or anyone else’s good. The house leader set his piece to the side. Sylvain felt himself tense in the silence that descended over the two of them.

“Look,” Claude offered finally, deciding the silence was enough. Sylvain tried not to glance back over at Felix and Annette.  Really, since when were they so close?  “Instead of bickering, why don’t we help each other out?” 

“And what would that entail exactly?” he asked warily, not because he didn’t trust Claude but—

Okay, so maybe he didn’t trust Claude, sue him. 

“I have a plan! Don’t sound so scared! Besides, I’m doing you a favor. At least Hilda knows what flirting is,” came his friend’s reply, tone wheedling, “You’ve got a much bigger beast to tackle.” 

Sylvain sighed because, honestly Claude was right. Hilda certainly had a better handle on her emotions than Felix but, was that really even important in the end? Sylvain didn’t exactly have much hope for things even panning out with Felix. Or any at all, really.

“Who said I even wanted to tackle it?” he posed, unable to keep the pettiness from his voice. 

“You don’t? Huh, maybe I gave you too much credit after all,” responded Claude, all nonchalance.  Sylvain felt something like spite flair up in him.

“Excuse me?” he bit out, immediately regretting his tone. He was slipping, this was entering dangerous waters. Claude shrugged.

“Didn’t think you were so dense. Or such a coward,” he explained. 

Normally, stuff like this wouldn’t get to Sylvain, he was used to it by now after all. Coming from Claude though, it grated on him immensely.

“Alright, I’ll bite. What’s your plan?” he relented after a moment of heated staring. The grin that crept up Claude’s face was mildly alarming, so much so that he seriously considered taking his words back. Before he could do anything though, the house leader leaned in conspiratorially.

“Think you can keep a girl for longer than a week?” 

•••

By all accounts, Felix was in a bad mood. For all her fighting prowess, the professor was clearly an idiot if she thought pairing him with  _ the boar  _ of all people for cleaning duty was even remotely a good idea. The beast couldn’t even take the hint that he didn’t wish to speak with him. 

So now Felix stood in the lunch line, tapping his foot as his already weathered patience frayed down to a thread. He took his food with a hardly audible  _ thanks  _ and made a beeline to where his classmates sat. Dropping his tray across from Annette, he fell into his seat without a word. 

Dimitri and Dedue sat silently in the cornerwatching amusedly where Annette, Mercedes, and Ashe carried on cheerfully about something or another. Probably cooking, if he had to guess. Felix let out a soft snort as his gaze fell to Ingrid, too busy wolfing down her food to participate in the conversation. 

He tried not to let the absence of a certain redhead sour his mood further. 

He failed. 

Suddenly his plate seemed far more appealing than those around him, so he took to staring holes into it while he began to eat. A tap to his ankle had him glancing back up with a glare. 

Annette fixed him with a knowing look. “What’s got you so grumpy?”

Felix scowled and pushed his food in a circle in his plate. “I’m always like this.” 

Annette’s laugh, bright and clear, rang through the air. Sylvain would probably say something idiotically poetic like ‘ Oh Annette, your laughter sounds like wedding bells’ , and some stupid, soft part of Felix wished he’d say that about  _ him _ —

No. Felix cut off that line of thought with a low growl. The tinkling laugh cut off and Annette’s round eyes narrowed in concern. “...Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he muttered.

Annette pouted at him and he cursed his weakness for her. “Okay fine, but I don’t want to talk about it. Leave it.” 

The girl’s tone turned teasing. “I bet you would tell  Sylvai—“ Felix watched in confusion as the redhead lifted her arm and waved it rapidly “Oh hi Sylvain!”

Felix desperately tried to stomp down the elation bubbling in his chest as he felt a familiar arm fall around his shoulders. Sylvain radiated ease as he slid into the seat next to him. 

“Hey there,” he drawled, “talking about me?” 

Felix bristled, which  _shit_ ,  Sylvain definitely felt that if the thumb now rubbing soothing circles into his shoulder was anything to go by. He was loathe to admit it was working. The warm chuckle reverberating through his side wasn’t hurting either. Felix quickly stuffed a piece of meat in his mouth to save himself from talking.

Annette giggled. “I was just saying that you could probably get Felix to talk about what’s got him in such a bad mood.”

Felix glared at the girl as genuine worry seeped into Sylvain’s voice. “Is everything okay, Fe?” His eyes flicked over to Dimitri, as if he knew what Felix was thinking. He wouldn’t be surprised, the man was frustratingly intelligent when he wanted to be. 

“Hmph. Maybe I’m just upset a bunch of blathering fools keep interrupting my meal.” 

Sylvain laughed then, one of his real ones, and Felix couldn’t find it in him to fight the urge to lean into the source. Warm breath falling against Felix’s ear shocked him out of his trance.

“We can talk about it later, if you want,” Sylvain offered, whisper soft and sending a shiver down Felix’s spine, before pulling away and propping his chin against his free hand. “Sorry Annie,” he added at normal volume, “I’m no miracle worker.”

Annette, to Felix’s immense relief, simply eyed the man suspiciously, dropping her interrogation. 

“Fair enough, but Felix, you can talk to me, okay?” Sylvain’s fingers clamped down on his shoulder as she said it, but Felix hardly had time to ponder that before the man turned a catlike grin on him. Felix mourned the loss of someone to deflect to as Annette spun back to talk to Mercedes.

“Huh. She seemed awfully concerned, did you go and get a girlfriend when i wasn’t looking?” 

Felix bit back an outright frown as the arm fell from his shoulders. 

“No. When will you get it through your thick skull that I don’t have time for pointless relationships?” he asked, aiming for (praying, even, though he wouldn’t admit it under threat of death) disinterested.  His face felt hot under Sylvain’s hooded gaze.

“I think you’ll find they aren’t so pointless,” He murmured, soft, alluring, and  _ agitating _ .

Felix’s sour mood came crashing back into him with a vengeance. He quickly finished the last of his food, making to stand. Surprise bloomed across Sylvain’s face. 

“Whatever. Waste your time if you want, but don’t expect me to help you when you find yourself outmatched on the battlefield.” 

He was angered further at the fact that it wasn’t even true. He’d protect Sylvain in a heartbeat. 

Turning on his heel, he stomped in the direction of the training grounds, heart fracturing that much more.

Sylvain didn’t leave his thoughts for the rest of his workout.

•••

After hours of rigorous training, Felix wanted nothing more than a bath and a good night’s sleep. He made his way on tired legs to the bathhouse, praying it would be empty.

Felix’s feet stalled in their path at the call of a familiar voice. He turned to glance at the redhead waving him over. 

“Felix, hey! I’ve been meaning to introduce you!” 

He stalked over to where Sylvain lounged outside the classrooms, a short blonde woman hanging off his arm. He stopped, crossing his arms and mustering the strongest deadpan stare he could, considering the sick feeling unfurling in his stomach. 

“Introduce me?” he asked, and felt his glare sharpen at the woman’s responding giggle. 

“I’m Brianna,” she offered, smiling sickeningly sweet up at Sylvain. Felix’s chest twisted further. “Sylvie’s my boyfriend.”

_Sylvie_.  He was going to throw up. 

“We’ve been dating almost a month,” Sylvain added, looking sheepish, “thought you should meet her.” 

Felix tried not to gape as he felt the world shift on its axis.  A month.  Sylvain didn’t date girls for more than a week. 

He was going to  _throw up_.

“Great,”  he hissed, “and since when have I ever cared about whichever woman you’re wasting your time on?”

Sylvain shrugged, more than used to Felix’s vitriol. “Just thought you should meet her, since you’ll probably be seeing more of her.”

Felix’s mind was still reeling, and he could feel himself crumpling inside. Sylvain smiled down at his girlfriend. “Also, just so you know, we’re going out tonight so I won’t be at dinner.”

Sylvain turned that lavicious grin on him and Felix’s mind screamed at the force of it. 

_ Fake. Not real. He’s not supposed to look at me like that.  _

The sharp pain of his nails digging into his palm pulled him out of his thoughts.

Who was he kidding? He wasn’t  special . All he did was lash out at the man, he wouldn’t be surprised if he’d finally hit his breaking point. He turned to leave, to escape this conversation before it could get any wor-

“Hey now, why don’t you join us? We could find you a nice girl in town and have a double date,” Sylvain suggested, hand sliding down the woman’s— Brianna’s , he reminded himself with no small amount of contempt—side to settle on her waist.

Felix faltered as that oh so familiar knife stabbed at whatever pathetic, shriveled thing dwelled in his chest after so many years of suffering through Sylvain’s philandering.

He tried desperately not to let jealousy seep into his tone, aiming instead for simple disgust. “I have better things to do than loiter around with you and your gaggle of tittering women.”

His hands clenched tightly at his sides as Sylvain squeezed the woman as if to apologize for his rude words. 

“Oh c’mon Fe, come get to know her! She wants to meet my friends,” he wheedled. 

Felix could barely think over the pounding in his head.

“Who said we were  friends?” 

_ Fuck._

Sylvain froze and Felix immediately regretted the words. Before he had the chance to express as much, the ginger’s expression was darkening.

“Ah. In that case, sorry to have wasted your time. Let’s leave him alone babe.” 

Felix stayed rooted in place as he watched his oldest, dearest friend disappear from sight. 

He didn’t sleep that night.

•••

Felix watched with a scowl as Ingrid dropped out of her fighting stance, frown somehow deepening.

“Is this about Sylvain?” 

_Yes_.

“No,” he spat, “why do you always ask that?” 

The blonde just leveled him with a disappointed look. After a bout of prolonged staring, she rolled her eyes. 

“Goddess, we have stable duty together this week and he won’t stop sighing every ten seconds.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Every single time I ask him what’s wrong he just pouts and goes back to moping! It’s driving me insane.”

Guilt stabbed at Felix’s chest and he tried not to wince externally. 

“Tch. How do you know he’s not just heartbroken over the girl of the week?” 

Ingrid held his gaze for a minute. They both knew there hadn’t been a girl of the week for a while now.

“Can you stop that?” he bit out. The eye contact was unnerving to say the least. The girl snorted but conceded, moving to set her lance on the storage rack. 

“Sylvain never gets hung up like that over his conquests,” she paused at that, the words seemingly leaving a bad taste in her mouth, “He’s never even remorseful enough to apologize, and  I’m always left to clean up his mess.”

Felix crossed his arms and took a shuddering breath.

_You have no right to be jealous_.

And yet. 

“What does any of this have to do with me?”

“Like I said, he’s genuinely upset, and you’re being more prickly than usual, so I figured something was up.” The blonde brushed herself off and turned to face Felix, who was scuffing the ground with his boot. 

“Mind your own damn business.”

Ingrid’s voice took on that disapproving tone he absolutely abhorred. “Felix he’s o-“

“Stop,”  he seethed. “It’s not my problem if he wants to act like a fool and fish for pity.” He stomped over to the sword rack, cringing as it shook from excessive force as he put his weapon away. “I’m done here.” 

Fingers caught around his arm with one last exasperated “ Felix!” , and he just as quickly shook them off. He allowed his shoulder to knock into Ingrid’s as he stormed past, throwing the girl off balance. It was petty, sure, but damn if it didn’t satisfy the fire burning in him just a little.

Felix wanted nothing more than to be alone. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for taking the time to read! Comments are always appreciated <3


End file.
